Greg Hobbs has noticed that many of the employees at David Hobbs Honda in Glendale don’t live very close to where they work.

“A lot of people who work for us live a remarkably long way away,” said Hobbs, executive vice president of the Honda auto dealership. “They drive past other dealerships that they could go and work for.”

So what attracted them to David Hobbs Honda and keeps them driving back to work there each day?

Hobbs thinks it has something to do with how they feel when they get there.

"if you are going to have to be here pretty much a minimum of 40 hours a week, you want to be in a fun place. There’s a job to be done and you’ve got to do it, but man, you might as well enjoy it.”

Developing a workplace where employees feel like they belong and are valued seems to be a key element among businesses that end up on the Journal Sentinel’s Top Workplaces list. Those employees, in turn, often strive to make their customers feel the same way.

Green Bay-based Associated Bank actually has asked its employees why they joined the company and why they choose to stay.

“They said that what they like about Associated is that we have strong connections with other colleagues, with our customers and with our communities,” said Judy Docter, executive vice president and human resources director. “They also said they got clear direction — they knew what they needed to do in order to be successful in their jobs at Associated. And they said they felt they had real opportunities to pursue their own interests, their developmental interests, with Associated.”

For example, Associated has a half-dozen affinity groups ranging from a women’s network to a group for people with disabilities and those who support people who have disabilities.

“That’s a great way for employees to connect with one another — to connect on a personal and social level with senior leaders across the organization,” Docter said. “Many companies don’t have those kinds of opportunities for their colleagues to have that one-on-one connection.”

Associated also encourages community volunteerism, providing employees up to eight hours a year of paid time to volunteer on projects such as homebuilding with Habitat for Humanity.

In addition, Docter said, Associated offers a variety of career development programs.

She added: “Then we have a top leadership program where individuals are selected from executives of the organization as up-and-comers and provided a nine-month opportunity to deal with real day-to-day issues that come up within our organization and come up with solutions in order to solve them,” Docter said.

The opportunity to develop leadership skills also is part of what attracts some workers to Chick-fil-A restaurants, said Danica Anderson, owner of the restaurant at Drexel Town Square in Oak Creek. Her location is one of six in the metro area.

“All six southeast Wisconsin Chick-fil-A restaurants are individually owned and operated,” Anderson said. “This means that our team members get to work alongside of a local business owner, learning about business and customer service. All six franchisees actually started as Chick-fil-A team members first, so we’re all passionate about developing leaders and creating growth opportunity.”

Anderson said whether employees are looking to further their career in the restaurant industry, pursuing their own Chick-fil-A or simply expanding their leadership skills for the future, they are encouraged and supported by management.

Anderson said each restaurant has its own way of honoring employees for their service, and Chick-fil-A has a "robust scholarship program and a broad network of education partners that offer our employees tuition discounts across the country."

“Most importantly, though, nothing could outweigh the genuine care that exists for each member of our team,” Anderson said. “The relationships and connections that our team members have with each other, their managers and the franchisees is a huge part of our success in building — and keeping — a team of motivated, service-oriented employees.”

At Chick-fil-A, employees are offered flexible scheduling, a competitive wage — and never have to work on Sunday, she said.

Among the financial attractions at Associated is a pension, an increasingly rare employee benefit nowadays.

Hobbs said David Hobbs Honda is careful in its hiring to find employees who are motivated to follow up with customers. The company is looking for people with skills, knowledge and “a little bit of style,” he said.

Docter said Associated conducts an employment engagement survey to find out what’s on the minds of workers. The response rate in the latest one was 81% of employees.

“Our employees tell us what they think, and we feel very positive that they do,” Docter said. “One of the important and top-line messages that we heard in 2017 from that 81% is that our colleagues really believe that their company values diversity and inclusion. For us, we’re very proud our employees feel that.”